


astrophe; and then, it swallowed me

by odeaan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Canon Universe, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Gen, Hance Bromance - Freeform, I love my boy, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Langst, M/M, after keith comes back with his mom, and before all the shitty stuff happens, author loves hunk, author takes liberties with general setting of canon, but i like to imagine keith has his scar, i'll fix that eventually, klance isn't supposed to be the focus, shit i forgot romelle, so i must hurt him first, takes place in a vague area in canon, the castle is still a thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 06:06:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17319404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/odeaan/pseuds/odeaan
Summary: His father used to tell him about space, about Earth’s quest into the unknown. About human nature, and the desire for more. And how, ‘Mijo, it’s possible there are other names for our planet that we may never know.’ His dad was definitely a conspiracy theorist. He gets a tingle at that thought,kind of like Keith, huh?Lance believed his dad, wide eyed and expectant, fresh and impressionable. Yet, one day his dad grew weary, grew tired, eyes heavy with knowledge that a young child could never comprehend. “One day, son, it’s possible our spacesuits won’t need treaded boots ever again. One day soon we’ll get tired of wandering and move back home for good. We’ll get used to watching our feet as we walk, occasionally stopping to hurl a single probe into the abyss.” Now he wonders if his dad was much more than a theorist. Was he like Pidge, tirelessly searching for something nobody else believed in? Did he find it?





	astrophe; and then, it swallowed me

**Author's Note:**

> Don't take my writing too seriously. I just needed to feed myself with a Lance arc because Voltron failed him. It kind of, uh, grew like a bunch of weeds. I only planned for a oneshot but now I think it's gonna be three parts. If anyone wants to fix all my grammatical errors and just, generally improve my writing, please, feel free.
> 
> Can find me at odeaan on tumblr.
> 
> OH and if you haven't figured it out, go watch the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows on youtube! Love it! Title is from it! Title is not it's definition though.

A part of him never expected to amount to much. Sure, he had big dreams, much larger dreams than he figured his life would accommodate though. Maybe he would’ve landed back at home, maybe he would’ve spent the rest of his days staring out on Varadero beaches serving tourists margaritas. Maybe he would’ve found himself a nice girl, a girl to take home to his mom. A girl that would make her a grandmother, a girl that would just be… nice. And when he thinks about how his life would’ve probably turned out, he thinks a traitorous part of himself regrets that it didn’t happen that way. That he didn’t have a simple life, that he wasn’t bringing his mom home a nice girl, that he wasn’t there living a small and insignificant life. He dreamed of being a 5 star general, of being one of the best. He dreamed of glory, of fame, of victory. This was not what he had in mind, in his big dreams.

Lance is a part of something out of control, that burns through his veins and weighs on his chest like a ton of bricks. Some restless nights he thinks it’s all too much, that he might just break under all of it. Maybe some nights he’d like to say he’s fighting a war that’s not his, that he could’ve stayed in Cuba and never went to the Garrison, that he would’ve never even known that this was happening in the universe. It’s futile though, for him to think like that.

Would the paladins still be paladins if he wasn’t there to fly Blue into space? Would Blue have had a different paladin? Would Pidge, Hunk, Keith, and Shiro still be a part of this too?

If he never went to the Garrison, would they have lived their lives peacefully on Earth?

Lance thinks maybe it’s his fault. If he kept his eyes down, if he decided to live a quiet life on a beach in Cuba maybe his friends wouldn’t have been sucked into this mess. Into this war. Yeah, sure, Pidge maybe never would have found her brother, though he doubts she ever would’ve stopped searching. And yeah, Keith most likely would’ve not met his mom, and hell the man has a wolf now! A pet! In space! And now they all have a new family, now they are each others family.

_Was it worth the cost, though?_

+

“Hunk! Buddy!” Lance strode into the castleship’s kitchen, plopping into a stool by the counter, “what are you making?”

Hunk chuckled, not sparing Lance a glance as he continued to move through the kitchen, “Well I’m trying to make something that tastes like pizza, I mean man do I miss pizza. Calzones, Lance! Pepperoni! Barbeque Chicken! Hawai-“ “Buddy no! Don’t you dare say it! Don’t!” “You’ve never even tried it, you should at least give it a chance.”

Lance gave him a questioning glance, before sighing and slumping onto the counter. Hunk continued to dance through the kitchen, moving with grace and precision. Lance thinks maybe Hunk would’ve been a world renowned chef. Lance wonders if he would’ve ever been lucky enough to taste Hunk’s food.

“You okay, Lance?”

Lance startles, somehow getting caught up in his own thoughts. He hadn’t even realized Hunk had been staring at him. Hunk looked at Lance like he was on the verge of breaking.

_Was he?_

“Haha yeah of course bud, you just got me thinking about pizza. You’re right, I totally do miss pizza. Good thing I know you’re going to deliver on some pizza flavored food goo.” Lance chuckles, giving Hunk a wink.

“Yeah yeah get out of here, don’t need you drooling all over it and ruining it for everyone else.” “I take great offence to that! I thought we were buds!” “Lance!” “Okay okay!”

When the doors to the kitchen close, Lance finds himself at an impasse. He’s drowning in his own thoughts and fears, and he wonders if he can keep up the façade much longer. He wonders if Hunk is the only one who would notice. He wonders if the fire in his veins will burn him up first.

He leans against the wall for a moment, attempting to collect his composure. He thinks maybe the only place he can keep calm is when he’s flying the red lion, when the fire in his veins feels like ice, when the weight on his chest magically dissipates. He wants to believe it’s because he feels confident, but the logical part of him tells him it’s because Red is trying to protect him from himself; and that the best way she can do that is when they’re connected at the controls. He breathes out.

He takes a step towards the hangers.

+

Coran’s voice crackles through the Castle’s intercom system, “A-ah yes I believe we are having malfunctions with the hanger doors, Paladins. Please, convene on the bridge, I will be needing your assistance.”

Lance glances up at the speaker. He figured Coran had cameras on the ship for surveillance, but now he realizes otherwise. Coran is only reacting to the hanger door to Red opening, and not accepting a bridge override to close. He wonders if Coran would’ve called everyone if he saw that it was Lance. He doesn’t go to find out.

Climbing into Red, he feels her nudging against his presence. It feels like a warm blanket, wrapping around his body, attempting to extinguish the flames in his veins. He’s thankful. He hopes she understands that. As he settles into the pilots seat he suddenly feels like he can breath again, and he feels her like a feather dragging across his skin like a lingering touch. _I do,_ he feels and hears and breaths.

Where do I end and Red begin?

Adrenal pumps through him, his mind precise and his body light, as he maneuvers the controls to have Red shoot out of the hanger. He flies and flies and flies. He doesn’t think about the Castle and his family. He doesn’t think about his blood family. He doesn’t think about the war and what it’s taken from all of them. He breathes. He hums. He feels Red running through him like a current, like electricity and ice and lava all at once. He thinks if anything could make you feel like you’re burning alive and freezing to death at the same time, it would be a semi sentient magical mechanical space lion.

While he blasts through space, auto rejecting all incoming calls, he feels like he’s at home in the Red lion. He doesn’t ever remember feeling this at peace on Christmas mornings, when he’d sit by a window and watch his family open presents in fleecy onesies around the tree, pretending like it wasn’t hot and sunny outside the confines of their home. He doesn’t remember it feeling like this, when he came home one afternoon crying to tell his mom and dad through hiccups and sobs, ‘Mami, Papi, I like boys, too’, just for them to turn around an embrace him saying ‘It’s okay _mijo_ it means you have a big heart. We will always love you.’

He feels a sense of déjà vu, like the Red lion isn’t so unfamiliar as it should be. He wonders if in another life he had always been a paladin. Red doesn’t respond to his curiosity, instead flashing an image of Alfor across his mind. He thinks that’s a non-answer. He feels a brush of amusement from her at that.

He scoffs at his own train of thought. He wasn’t a King in another life. Though he’d be entirely unsurprised if reincarnation was possible, considering the crazy thing’s he’s seen while in space. He was no reincarnated Altean King, just as he was never a 5 star general.

Though he does laugh when he thinks that if he were a reincarnation of Alfor, then that would make Keith a reincarnation of Zarkon.

A shiver runs down his spine just before an ion canon blasts into him.

+

Lance awakes to bright surfaces, lights, and voices. He’s disoriented. He isn’t sure if he’s alive or dead, but he figures if he was dead he wouldn’t have ended up somewhere so bright. Considering he can’t perceive much more than brightness though, he could also have ended up in the flames of hell, he figures they’d be just as bright. The fire in his veins is gone, but in its stead is a thrumming just below his skin. It feels restless.

“ _-ance, LANCE!_ ”

Lance manages to crack an eye open, catching the pod he was in disengaging and Hunk pushing his way in to wrap Lance in a crushing hug. He closes his eyes again. Was the med bay always so bright?

“A-ah hey. Hey buddy.” Lance manages to croak into Hunks shoulder. His eyes burn. He hides them in Hunks shirt.

“Lance-shit-we were all so worried man. Why’d you run off like that? God you don’t even, Galra came shooting and we came and Red was dead and- god Lance,” Hunk sniffles, hugging Lance a little bit tighter, “you’ve been in the pod for like, 3 days dude.”

Lance breathed into Hunk, his ears picking up quiet foot steps as a smaller set of arms wrapped around him as well. A breathed out ‘ _idiot_ ’ found its way to his ears. He lets one hand fall to Pidge’s head. She doesn’t move away.

“Sa-sorry-” he coughs as he tries to re-find his voice “-didn’t mean ta worry you.”

He feels his leg’s give beneath him before he feels his consciousness fade. He thinks he hears Keith yell his name before he loses consciousness.

+

_“-o way he cou-”_

_“-re not being fair, what I-”_

_“-top it!”_

_“-essence exposure? Wou-”_

_“-aybe… Never se-”_

_“-tuck with… Do … know ANYTHING!?”_

_“STOP”_

_“-is mean? Should we exp-… be… -”_

_“… time will tell, in th-”_

+

He floats through complete blackness, he feels weightless. Lance doesn’t think much about how he’s probably dead and this is purgatory, instead he tries to shift his eyes around, attempting to catch a light or reflection, or something. This complete lack of light however makes him completely disoriented. Maybe he doesn’t even have eyes anymore. He thinks dark humor probably isn’t his forte.

As if life was being breathed into him, his body ignites like an explosion of stars. Galaxies at his fingertips and star dust in his throat. Bright, colorful, magnificent. _Blinding_.

His father used to tell him about space, about Earth’s quest into the unknown. About human nature, and the desire for more. And how, ‘ _Mijo, it’s possible there are other names for our planet that we may never know._ ’ His dad was definitely a conspiracy theorist. He gets a tingle at that thought, _kind of like Keith, huh?_

Lance believed his dad, wide eyed and expectant, fresh and impressionable. Yet, one day his dad grew weary, grew tired, eyes heavy with knowledge that a young child could never comprehend. “ _One day, son, it’s possible our spacesuits won’t need treaded boots ever again. One day soon we’ll grow tired of wandering and move back home for good. We’ll get used to watching our feet as we walk, occasionally stopping to hurl a single probe into the abyss._ ” Now he wonders if his dad was much more than a theorist. Was he like Pidge, tirelessly searching for something nobody else believed in? Did he find it?

He worries his dad may have been trying to keep him from this fate. That now his dad is probably riddled with guilt, thinking ‘ _I did this. I could’ve protected my baby boy. This is my fault._ ’ Lance hopes he’s not dead, he hopes he can go home and tell his dad that ‘ _No, papi, it’s not your fault. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry._ ’

He breaths out, and he breaths in galaxies, star maps across his lungs. Infinite and finite. He feels wholly insignificant compared to the vastness of the universe, slipping through him like he’s not even there. Maybe he’s not. Maybe he’s imagining it, the magnificence of the multicolored stars flittering across his face, the brightness of even the smallest of stars.

Flames dance across his skin, giving him goosebumps. He should be afraid he’ll be set ablaze, but instead it feels like a warm hug. The flame is familiar, familiar like his own hands, the flame feels like a part of him outside of himself. And suddenly, the galaxies converge on him, creating a sort of mirror, and now the complete blackness spotted with stars was now an entirely white space, with his reflection staring back at him.

_That’s me?_

His ears flick in response. His ears!? His pointed ears!? At his surprise and curiosity, the scales under his eyes seem to glow, as if it were a mood ring. Now he knows he must be dreaming, though he’s not quite sure what wild part of his mind would conjure up an image like this. He closes his eyes to will the image away, to wake up, to change this crazy dream into something less… crazy! It doesn’t, and instead his rapid blinking does nothing more than make his traitorous face glow some more.

He keeps his eyes closed this time.

+

It feels just as disorienting waking up this time as it did the last. Just as alarming, as he gasps for breath like he’s been underwater holding it in. He is cold. Lifting his hand to his face, he feels around, trying to confirm that he was just having some fever dream. When he feels his pointy ears, and a soft bump across his cheekbones, he suddenly feels the urge to vomit. It wasn’t just a dream after all. He forces his body to the side of the bed he was laying on, with what little strength he has, and he dry heaves.

He lays there for a minute or so, gulping in air and staring at the white tile floor of the med bay. Desperately trying to reign in his panic, he sits up, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. He expects his body to resist when he attempts to stand, but he stands without incident. Actually, he feels much lighter, he feels like he could run 10 miles without breaking a sweat, he feels powerful. Maybe the ears and the scales aren’t the only physical changes to his body. He remembers watching Allura wipe the floor with all of the paladins, even Shiro and Keith. Alteans are obviously built much stronger than humans are, though he’s still not quite sure what he is.

The energy thrumming below his skin is restless, but this time he doesn’t feel like he’s about to collapse under it. So instead, he runs. His feet bare, his joggers fleece rubbing against his thighs and the tank top riding up his waist to reveal a sliver of skin, he runs. He runs to the empty floors of the castle, the ones far from the docks, the ones the paladins didn’t go to. The castle aged poorly, now but an empty husk which once held so much life. The farther he ran, the more dust he found collecting, on the floors, on the railings, on the steps, on the furnishings. Left behind in a rush, peoples lives left suspended on these floors.

He thinks by the 45th floor his lungs should be burning and his legs should be aching, but instead he feels as light as a feather. He knows too, that before, when Allura would flip him like he’s nothing, and Keith would pin me during every spar, he wouldn’t have made it even 3 floors without feeling like his lungs were collapsing; so this, even with a year of training, should still be impossible. When he reaches the 60th floor is when the intercom system crackles to life.

“Good afternoon paladins! If – ahem – if all of you can meet me in the bridge please!”

Lance curiously slows down as the intercom fades out. _Really? That’s it, Coran?_ Everyone has seen his face, which means that they’ve all probably had a lot of time to discuss it. Without him. Constantly being left out of things, nothing new. He turns around and runs back down. He reminds himself that he should be nicer, given the rollercoaster of emotions running through his body, it wouldn’t be fair to let his anger be directed at the only family he has up here.

He jogs leisurely back down, his feet blackened and his skin tacky and dirty from the dust in the upper floors. Halfway down he realizes he could’ve taken the elevator, but decides to continue down the steps, trying to sweat out the energy beneath his skin. Maybe it wouldn’t even come out if he scratched it out, he thinks it’s probably a part of him now, this uneasy and fitful pulsing just ready to jump free. And when he eventually reaches the closed doors to the bridge, he fidgets in place, trying to force his body to calm down.

When he presses his palm to the pad, and the doors open, he expects the room to be quiet and the sound of the door to be deafening. It seems to be a common theme of the day, for his expectations to be entirely wrong, because as he enters the doorway it’s as if he’s not even there. The room is a boom of voices, and for some reason Lance calms at that. Yeah, sure, once they realize he’s there it’ll be another commotion all together, but at least he was given a moment to adjust. He didn’t have to walk into a room of owl eyes and hiccupping cries, the team waiting on baited breath, he’s the one that gets control over the situation, and he’s grateful to whichever cosmic deity gave this to him.

“Well that’s bullshit and you kn-” and suddenly, as Keith caught his eye mid sentence, and as the holo pad in his hand clattered to the floor, the attention was focused on Lance. Lance glanced at Coran, catching him with a small smirk on his face. Lance lets a small smile grace his face, as he opens his arms to his team, his family. And just like the first time he woke up after being blasted in the Red lion, Hunk and Pidge ran to him, held him like he was going to disappear, a quiet sniffle rumbling through their chests. He let’s himself breath them in, the lingering burning of whatever Hunk had made and the clean and metallic scent that clings to Pidge’s clothes. It’s strange and not particularly pleasant, but he’s just happy to have them here.

It reminds him that he’s not alone.

“Okay okay, I know I worried you guys, I’m okay now, really,” he shifts out of Hunk and Pidge’s grips, letting his hand linger on Hunk’s arm as he glances to the other’s in the room, “but no matter how _okay_ I’m feeling physically, this whole new look is freaking me out and I’d really like for somebody to maybe give me some answers on that.”

He watches Allura shift her eyes away, and seemingly shrink into herself. Now, that’s pretty disconcerting considering her general air of confidence and diplomacy, and it definitely was not helping his rising anxiety. The thrumming below his skin feels as if it’s closing around his throat, attempting to strangle him.

Lance clears his throat, “um, so? Anybody?” He glances to Shiro, who is looking between Allura and Keith. Keith looks aggravated, which is generally not a new emotion for him, however it is when it’s pointed at Allura. Jeez, what the _fuck_ was going on?

“I, uh, might be able to clarify why you look like that, but-” Allura wraps her arms up against her, shuffling her feet towards him, “- it’s not actually a confirmed theory, and I could be entirely wrong, and I don’t actually have a way to… fix it.”

Well, that isn’t what he was hoping to hear, but it wasn’t quite an answer for Keith’s aggravation either. Why should he be mad that Lance is stuck like this? It has absolutely nothing to do with Keith, at least from what he can tell.

“Oh… Okay then… So, um, what’s your working theory then, princess?” Allura jolts at Lance’s words. Disconcerting. “Well, I do believe you have… Been overly exposed to quintessence.” Lance lifts an eyebrow at that.

_So? What does that even mean?_

“See, from what we understand at least, and mind you my information is quite dated and I wasn’t privy to a lot of things at the time, I was still considered juvenile and young and much to immature to lead-” “Just get on with it, Allura. He asked for your theory, not your story.” Keith scoffed.

_Okay, seriously, what the fuck is going on with Keith and Allura?_

“-ahem… Well, Zarkon had been highly exposed to quintessence as a paladin of Voltron, and it’s believed to be the reason he, well… turned on us. At least, I believe it to be. Now, he’s Galra right? So this shouldn’t really matter in this situation… However, I believe what the quintessence had really done was expose underlying traits in his genealogy. He was always Galra, that was known, but certain extinct Galra traits had been exposed post quintessence exposure. His eyes, for example, had been much like ours, much like even other Galras. He had whites of his eyes, he had pupils, he had cornea. The glowing eyes he had, before, was obviously of quintessence nature. However, Galra, many generations before my time, and this is all according to our limited documentation in the Castle database, had eyes that glowed like that. They were always sensitive to quintessence. But, the trait died out through generations, just like humans have tail bones but no tail.”

“Princess, that’s a really disturbing comparison,” Lance winced.

“Yes, well, it’s still comparable. What I’m trying to say Lance, is like how Keith is half Galra. I believe, this change was not sudden or unprecedented, I believe you always had these traits available in your genetics. Which, personally, I find strange that human genetics are dominant considering how weak you are-” “Hey!” “My apologies.”

Lance feels the flames ignite in his being again, ready to burn up everything around him.

“So, what you’re saying is,” Lance breathes out, then lifts his head to meet Allura directly in the eyes, “Is that, somehow, someway, I’m partially Altean?”

“That is exactly what I’m saying.”

“And this only came out now because I’ve been exposed to a lot of quintessence… Because I was blasted through space with a gigantic weaponized quintessence canon.”

“… Yes.”

“Okay, let’s just say I accept that at face value, I mean obviously I have no reason to doubt you. You’re Altean, I’d think you’d at least be able to tell that much I think. We’re saying that, an alien race that was wiped out over 10,000 years ago, somehow managed to make it to Earth and just… Reproduce? And not try to keep what is now left of their race close knit and cultivate its culture.”

“Uhm, well… I can’t really speak on that. Maybe they couldn’t? Maybe it wasn’t even a group of Alteans but only one? I’m not sure Lance, I’m as lost as you are in this.” Allura fidgets again, up a level higher than him but somehow managing to look smaller.

“I mean, Lance, buddy, maybe it was only one Altean! What if they got sick? What if Alteans can’t actually survive in Earths atmosphere? I mean we do have a lot of toxins and stuff man. Global warming and all that!” Hunk gave him a worried look, but did not move to embrace him again. He was thankful for that, he needed to breath. The flames lit up his veins. He thinks he could hear them screaming, if an imaginary energy could have voices.

“Yeah I guess. It just seems super far fetched to me. And what, does that mean if I’m a descendant of a 10,000 year dead Altean, that my entire family is too? Sorry, but this is just a lot to try and wrap my head around.” He shrugs, trying to play it off as simply inconvenient. He just can’t imagine much past his siblings excited voices and his parents joyful whispers. It felt all too human to be… alien.

And if they weren’t Altean, and he was? That was a whole other can of worms that he wasn’t sure he wanted to try to understand.

But he can’t stop himself from thinking about it. Maybe, maybe his dad had known all along. He spoke of space like he was in love. He spoke like it fueled his existence, like his joy belonged with the stars. His pa was too human to be Altean, it was obvious, in his cracking joints and his high cholesterol. And his ma was all too human too. But maybe, she wasn’t his mom after all, at least not the mom who birthed him. Sure, he was the youngest, and his eldest siblings would’ve known if he was born of another woman. Right? He was a twin! Though Rachel never really did look much like him.

He wonders if maybe he was the only one not let in on the secret.

Did that mean that Allura and Coran had family out there? That Altea wasn’t entirely destroyed? And even with the rumbling storm in his mind, he feels thankful that his new family had found hope in him. Maybe, Allura and Coran didn’t have to feel so alone in their battle.

“See?” Lance perks his head up at Keith’s voice. It felt charged, it felt dangerous. “This isn’t just some theory! This is Lance’s life! You can’t just flip everything he knows on its head because you’re grasping at straws! Shit, what happened to you was horrible, we get that, we’re sensitive to that. But this!? Just because one paladin has an alien parent, doesn’t mean every paladin is somehow connected to this shitty war. He didn’t ask for this! You don’t even have any solid evidence! You keep throwing accusations lik-” “Keith! Stop! Haven’t we argued enough about this!?” Shiro interrupts, moving himself between Allura and Keith.

Lance feels like he can’t breath, can’t speak. He stands and watches, as the tension in the room rises. He’s not sure how he should feel about Keiths outburst. A part of him feels like it should be thankful, knowing Keith really does have his back; but another part doesn’t think it actually had anything to do with him. What did Keith have to be mad about? He found and bonded with his mom, didn’t he? He even got a space wolf out of it! Didn’t this war, didn’t Voltron bring him closer to his family? And, from what Lance could tell, what life did Keith really have to be left behind?

_That line of thought is harsh, sheesh, thought you actually liked the guy._

Shaking his head, he huffs out a laugh. “Is this what you guys were on about when I walked in or is there something else going on? Because I’m gonna need more than just a few moments to process and unpack all this other shit, and if something urgent is actually happening we should probably focus our efforts on that.”

Keith finally, after the initial eye contact and promptly avoiding looking at Lance, met his eye again, worrying his lower lip in his teeth. The man didn’t look as angry as he had sounded when yelling at Allura, rather he looked like a kicked puppy. Or maybe, a better analogy would be he looked like a dog that knew it did something wrong and was feeling guilty about it. His eyebrows scrunched together in thought, and if he was being honest with himself, Keith kind of looked cute in that moment.

_Fuck is wrong with you? Pull it together, man._

“Well, ahem, there is actually a conundrum right now! We’ve gotten 2 distress calls forwarded from the Blade, however they are both in entirely different sections of the universe. One is in the AIC 25F star system, which is honestly quite a volatile region, with not many habitable planets. Apparently a Galra resistance base is being staked out by a Galra fleet in that system, making it impossible for the resistance group to leave or enter, they are now running out of supplies and are worried they may have to take on an entire fleet without back-up. Kolivan says he doesn’t have any Blade members or teams in the general area, given how empty it is.” Coran walks over to the array of holo screens, flicking general information about the star system and the distress call to a larger screen for all the paladins to see.

“Now, we were nervous about taking this one, given you, Lance, being out of commission. We don’t have enough information about the Galra fleet in AIC 25F to warrant immediate action, as well as we aren’t quite sure what they want from the resistance group. Kolivan promised that they have something vital to the fight against the empire, something that could change the tide of war, but we don’t actually have contact with the resistance group trapped in there, and Kolivan isn’t willing to share what it is with us. He’s worried that our connection isn’t secure enough, though I am certain Pidge has done her best job at making sure we are on a totally encrypted and private frequency.” “You’re damn right I did.” “Language!” “Sorry, dad!”

At that Hunk and Keith let out a chuckle as Shiro goes red in the face. Ha, Lance let’s out a soft chuckle, the tips of Shiro’s ears went pink.

“The other is from the Eusebeia galaxy. It’s a developed galaxy, many trade planets and a lot of technology. They very much know how to protect themselves, and considering this galaxy is at the edge’s of the universe, Galra don’t tend to travel so far just to be shot down. It is a rather difficult galaxy to get to, without wormhole travel. It’s surrounded by many black holes, many quantum abysses that can pull you into its gravitation if you are not careful. It seems though, that the Galra were tipped to some high level energy canon that was being built in the Eusebeia galaxy. Not quite sure what they intend for it, considering they already have plenty of fire power, but it can’t be much good. Anyways! The planet Anadeia in the Eusebeia galaxy is where this supposed energy canon is being held, and they have hailed us to assist in moving the canon to a more secure location that they have set up. Considering that we are the only part of the coalition that can reach this galaxy without issue, the Blade sent this call to us as well.”

Lance wished he understood half of what Coran said, but he thinks he at least got the gist of what the man was trying to explain. Two groups of people, that only Voltron can help, that both have unknown circumstances surrounding them. If they don’t help, the Galra might get a dangerous weapon in their hands, but with the information readily available to them, they’re not sure which is more dangerous and more urgent.

He’s not the leader of Voltron, he’s not the Black paladin, he’s not Keith; but he thinks right now, as he looks at Keith’s conflicted face, that he needs his right hand to step up and take the lead.

“Well, can’t we open two wormholes? I mean I know it’ll take a lot out of you Allura, but maybe instead of taking this as a call for Voltron, we take it as a call for any help they can get. Why can’t we send Pidge to scout out AIC 25F, to find out the situation status, and attempt to get the resistance out quietly. I mean, Green has a cloaking ability, she can probably get in and out quietly. And, it’s not like Green is a slow lion? You said the star system was volatile, right Coran? Green is small and agile, I think it can maneuver much better through a system like that than Yellow or Black could, and definitely wouldn’t be as flashy as Red would be.” He takes a breath. Everyone is watching him, expectant. Keith is watching him. He thinks he sees his eyes sparkle. He chooses to ignore it.

“And then Eusebeia, right? May or may not have a canon that the Galra could use as more heavy artillery. It’s obviously a serious enough threat that the Blade sent it to us, so they think it holds some truth to it. Red can’t hold or carry heavy equipment like that. I know Blue can’t either. But Yellow could, it’s pretty much Yellow’s specialty, right? So, send Yellow in to pick up the heavy equipment, and send Black in to zip them out if need be. I mean, you’ve done it before, Keith? So, I think if it was an emergency, you could open a wormhole with Black’s wings again, to get you and Hunk out of there.”

“So, Lance, what about us?” Allura looks at him, curiosity clear on her face. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen her take his ideas seriously before. He wonders if its only because he might be (probably is) part Altean.

“I’ll pull Red into the edge of the AIC 25F star system, which by the way we need to think of a nickname for it because that is just too many letters and numbers.” He hears Hunk snort behind him, and when did he walk in front of Hunk? “Just in case the fleet decide to move in, or Pidge is compromised, she won’t be alone to fight them off. We’ll be able to fend them off, waiting for assistance. Plus, knowing you Pidge, within moments of entering that star system you’ll probably know how to use it’s volatile behavior as a defense. Blue and you will stay here, we’ll have two lions in each system, and yeah maybe we won’t be able to form Voltron, but given an emergency you are the only one who can open a wormhole. If necessary, you’ll be able to fly Blue directly into whatever emergency it is, as back up.”

“Well, this isn’t ideal, but it’s much better than trying to choose between two equally dire situations. What do you think, Keith?” Allura looks to Keith. Lance thinks this is her attempt at an olive branch.

_Though it seemed like Keith was the one who instigated it all, huh? She’s definitely the diplomat._

“Oh… uh, yeah. Lance that was, yeah, yeah that is a good plan. I agree.” Suspiciously nervous. Lance should probably have a talk with Keith, after all of this. He thinks it’s over due. And, if Lance wasn’t so caught up in his own whirlwind, he probably would’ve pushed for a confrontation over Keith’s strange behavior much sooner.

_I don’t really have time to be having a bisexual crisis, when I’m having a ‘my life might be a lie’ crisis._

“Well then, it’s settled,” Allura moves with purpose, her shoulders squared yet again, back to her confident posture and aura, “we’re going to answer both calls. Coran, please, send word to Kolivan to reach out.”

Lance thinks maybe a year ago he would’ve found her air of confidence in the face of adversity breathtaking, now he just feels unsettled. He’s not sure if it has to do with the thrumming beneath his skin, the rollercoaster of emotions he has when it comes to anything Keith related, or the fact that his life has been flipped on it’s head.

It probably doesn’t matter which one it is.


End file.
